Janus Films has acquired all U.S. rights to Carol & Joy, a vérité documentary short film featuring Oscar-nominated actress Carol Kane and her 98-year-old mother Joy.
Directed by Nathan Silver (Between the Temples), the film had its world premiere at the 2025 Telluride Film Festival and continued screening at the fall festivals New York Film Festival, Hampton International Film Festival, and Woodstock Film Festival. It had its international premiere in Vienna.
“Carol & Joy” will be released exclusively on Criterion Channel on December 1, 2025. Janus will support the film’s efforts to win Best Documentary Short at the 2026 Academy Awards.
On New York’s Upper West Side, Kane lives with his 98-year-old mother, Joy, a current music teacher, former dancer, and lifelong lover of France. In this intimate short vérité documentary shot on 16mm, the filmmaking team behind Kane’s recent Spirit Award-nominated and acclaimed film Between the Temples visits the couple at their home for an afternoon of music, friends, and storytelling.
The film is executive produced by Jamie Gonsalves (Predators, Dos Estaciones), C. Mason Wells (Between the Temples, Thirst Streets), Hannah Dweck and Theodore Schaefer of Dweck Productions (Maddy’s Secret, Adults), and Brian Liebman (Bratz, Featherweight). Mountain A with Natalie Portman and Sophie Mass (May December, Arco), Diane Lunney (Between the Temples) The film was shot by Sean Price Williams (Good Time, Sweet East) and Hunter Zimny (Funny Pages) in the tradition of legendary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles.
“We shot ‘Carol & Joy’ in 16mm in a house in New York City, using an observational and conversational style that owes a debt to the authentic nonfiction heroes of the ’60s and ’70s,” Silver said. “All of the documentaries that inspired us are, of course, in the Janus Film library and available to stream on the Criterion Channel. It’s an incredible honor to have our film alongside these greats in the same beautiful building.”
Kane’s career spans 50 years. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for “Hester Street,” a two-time Emmy Award winner, a Golden Globe nomination for the television series “Taxi,” and an Emmy nomination for “Chicago Hope.” She was also a regular on the Netflix series “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Hunters.”
“Between the Temples, which had its world premiere in competition at the Sundance Film Festival, was released by Sony Pictures Classics in 2024. The film was nominated for the Gotham Award for Best Original Screenplay, and Caine won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Janus Films recently announced the release of director Sophie Ronvari’s acclaimed debut feature The Blue Heron, Carla Simon’s 2025 Cannes selection Romelia, author Lav Díaz’s latest film Magellan, Cannes Award winner Bi Guan’s Resurrection, and Hrinul Palmeison’s The Love That. Remains,” Sergei Loznitsa’s acclaimed “The Two Prosecutors,” and Ira Sachs’ Sundance and New York Film Festival selection “Peter Huger’s Day.”
